Smoking is always a trend among [part of] the teen population. Currently, though, it seems that hookah water pipes are the new trend. While these are definitely nothing like cigarettes, some experts believe that they could be a gateway to traditional cigarette smoking.
This has been confirmed in a recent study which also suggests a similar tendency in people who use snus—a popular type of chewing tobacco in Sweden.
“Yet, water pipe tobacco remains largely unregulated by the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration], and snus is less regulated than other smokeless tobacco,” reports the team, led by Samir Soneji, of Dartmouth College School of Medicine.
Smoking expert Patricia Folan, the director of the Center for Tobacco Control at North Shore—LIJ Health System in Great Neck, NY, agrees: “The wide variety of flavors, low price, and appealing packaging of these products attract young people, which as this study indicates can lead to cigarette smoking.”
Folan continues, “This study provides evidence that using these alternative products increases the likelihood of cigarette smoking, leading to the hazardous consequences of smoking-related disease and disability.”
She hopes that results of this study can assist the FDA in more effective regulation of tobacco sale and use.
Dr. Mary O’ Sullivan, director of the Smoking Cessation Program at Mount Sinai, St. Luke’s Hospital in NYC, claims “Nicotine remains one of the most addicting substances and teens are especially vulnerable to its addiction. Those youth who are especially susceptible to nicotine addiction, by their genetic or sociological profile, with fairly brief exposure to nicotine will risk developing potentially permanent addiction.”
She comments that these findings are “all the more timely, since the FDA will shortly be considering a Swedish tobacco company’s petition to soften the warning labels on its smokeless chewing tobacco.”
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